Dorothy+Spuhr

On November 16, 1905, 18-year-old Dorothy Spuhr died in County Hospital in Chicago from an abortion performed on November 13.

Midwife Julia Gibson, aka Timmons, was arrested and held by the coroner's jury.

Gibson went on to perpetrate a fatal abortion on Bessie Braun the following year.

Dorothy's abortion was atypical of pre-legalization abortions in that it was not [|performed by a physician].

Note, please, that with general public health issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. For more about abortion and abortion deaths in the first years of the 20th century, see [|Abortion Deaths 1900-1909].

For more on pre-legalization abortion, see [|The Bad Old Days of Abortion]

Source: [|Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database]

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